ST. LOUIS — A new regional anti-violence effort should put more emphasis on law enforcement and less on social services, St. Charles County Executive Steve Ehlmann said Wednesday.
The initiative aims to cut murders in the metro area by 20% over the next three years, focusing on the relatively small number of people involved in many homicides here. The plan calls for increased hiring of street outreach workers likely aimed at high-crime areas of Ƶ, Ƶ County and St. Clair County.
“So far we’ve spent 99% of the time talking about the carrot and very little talking about the stick,” Ehlmann said at a meeting of the East-West Gateway Council of Governments.
The idea is to use a strategy called “focused deterrence,” in which police and social service providers give people repeatedly involved in violence a choice in meetings with police and others. Job training, education, mental health and drug treatment services would be offered, while those who continue to engage in crime would get targeted enforcement action. The effort came out of a weeklong conference in December organized by the council.
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Ehlmann on Wednesday asked Ƶ Police Chief Robert Tracy whether his short-staffed department has enough officers to both hold meetings with repeat offenders targeted by the new effort and handle their regular duties.
“We can do multiple things,” Tracy said.
Ehlmann asked Tracy if he has the resources he needs “and if you don’t, is there some way the region or the state can help you...to get the resources you need?”
Tracy said the department as of Jan. 1 had 940 of 1,244 budgeted positions filled. He said use of overtime pay helps the department do its job and said it is working hard to recruit people to fill vacancies. He didn’t comment on Ehlmann’s reference to outside help.
Ehlmann in an interview after the meeting suggested that the Missouri Highway Patrol could be tapped to assist city police.
Ehlmann said he was concerned by a proposal that membership on a regional advisory board overseeing the effort would be split roughly evenly among three groups — law enforcement; “non-enforcement” leaders in government, nonprofit, business and public health; and representatives of impacted communities and community and faith-based organizations.
“Can we at least have half the people from law enforcement?” he asked.
Ƶ Mayor Tishaura O. Jones replied by saying, “I don’t think so.
Because this is a three-pronged approach — prevention, intervention and enforcement. We just have to agree to disagree on that.”
Ehlmann also complained Wednesday that a pending proposal would make two liberal Democrats — Jones and Ƶ County Executive Sam Page — the co-chairs of the advisory board.
“Maybe we should have one conservative and one progressive chairing it” to ensure that both perspectives are represented fairly, said Ehlmann, a Republican.
Jefferson County Executive Dennis Gannon, also a Republican, suggested that someone representing outlying metro counties be a co-chair.
Jim Wild, the Gateway Council’s executive director, said although Jones and Page had agreed to head the new board, that’s merely an idea and the decision would be up to the council.
The council on a unanimous voice vote agreed Wednesday to give the council staff authority to continue advance work on the initiative. But a vote on specifics in the plan isn’t expected until March or later, Wild said.
Ehlmann said he would seek to amend the proposal at a later meeting.